1930: Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales

Of all the books published in 1930, thus entering the public domain on January 1 2026, this one is the most important for my own research and writing. Because this book was essential for my work, I had purchased a copy (not cheap!) around six or seven years ago, thinking at the time that 1926 seemed very far away, but now, at last, this book is about to enter the public domain!

Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales
by R. S. Rattray
(illustrated by Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe artists)
Internet Archive

R. Sutherland Rattray [1881-1938] studied anthropology at Oxford University and then went on to join the British civil service in Africa; details at Wikipedia. During his 25 years in Africa from 1906 until his retirement in 1930, he published several major collections of African stories and proverbs. This monumental collection of Akan folk-tales from Ghana (then the Gold Coast) contains 75 stories both in Akan and in a very literal English translation, along with illustrations by members of the Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe tribes with whom Rattray lived and worked.

Rattray is also the author of Ashanti Proverbs, Hausa Folklore, and Folklore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja, all of which contain the African language text along with an English translation; those books are all already in the public domain.

Here are a few of the illustrations: